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Specialist Practitioner accreditation 3-yearly accreditation fee £60

If you’re an occupational health nurse who has completed a FOHN approved specialist course, and/or have demonstrable experience and undertake occupational health nursing practice as a significant part of your work, you could become an accredited Specialist Practitioner and can be entered on the Directory of FOHN Accredited Specialists in the UK.

Those who have completed a pathway specific occupational health nursing course, which is not on the FOHN approved list but have significant experience and knowledge over six years can apply via portfolio. See the Portfolio route and recommended evidence guide (here)

Check the eligibility criteria below.

Competency

Specialist Practitioner accreditation demonstrates that you’re competent to practise occupational health nursing in your chosen field. It shows that you have specific knowledge and expertise in a range of occupational health functions and activities. You can use the post nominals SFOHN.

Achievement

You can remain in this level or, if you want to broaden your knowledge, experience and skills, you could see this as a steppingstone to Advanced Specialist accreditation status. Either way, Specialist accreditation is recognition of a great achievement.

What'sNeeded

If you specialise and dive deep into occupational health in a particular sector, or activity this could be the right level for you. Find out more about the different requirements for your application.

Education

What type and level of qualification you need.

Main requirements

You need a minimum of an ENB Specialist Practice Qualification recorded by the UKCC, an NMC approved Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (Occupational Health) qualification, or a post graduate qualification approved by FOHN.

You should have completed at least 35 hours of CPD each of your previous two years.

Work Experience

How much experience you need and how to document it.

Main requirements

You need to have carried out occupational health work for at least 200 days over a period of at least 4 years. You should have carried out at least 5 significant activities or projects during that time.

How to show this in your application

You’ll need to complete a logbook detailing your activities or projects. Your logbook is a key part of your application as it demonstrates to the assessors the occupational health work that you’ve undertaken over your minimum 4-year period. It should contain separate records of between 5 and 8 significant activities over the period. This information can then be used as part of your NMC revalidation records and vice versa.

Your evidence could include final reports from the work you described. These should show in detail the occupational health work you undertook during that project. Note that a multi-authored report can be difficult to assess as evidence, so you must be explicit about your contribution to such a report.

There must be at least 200 days’ work undertaken during that period (part time occupational health work is pro rata, e.g., 40 half days = 20 full days). If you have worked on a long-term project, you can break it down into smaller activities for reporting.

  1. A brief summary of the activity and personal involvement
  2. Details of the work involved. For example, provide a list of reports that you have produced, the names of particular methods, tools and techniques that you used. Include reference to conference proceedings, training delivery or journal articles relating to your logbook entry.
  3. A description of the outputs from the work and your contribution
  4. An indication of your degree of responsibility, level of authority and description of your role in the project, role or activity.
  5. Reflection on the successful and less successful features of each project or activity.
  6. Details of how this work demonstrates personal development and relevance to the NMC Code

You must submit supporting evidence of your NMC Revalidation CPD and Practice Hours.

Simple Pricing

You will pay an annual membership fee of £15. Plus we will invoice you for £60 when you go through accreditation.

Competence

What competence you need and how to link it to your work.

Main requirement

You have at least an intermediate (proficiency level 3) of 60% of the competencies listed in the FOHN Professional Competency Checklist and have an advanced proficiency level 4 across at least one area of competency. 

How to show this in your application

A checklist has been developed by the FOHN as a guide to expected competencies for an occupational health nurse specialist. It can be used in conjunction with a proficiency scale to show progress in breadth and depth of skills and expertise as your career progresses.

The checklist forms part of the application for Specialist Practitioner accreditation to help demonstrate breadth (through the number) and depth (through levels of proficiency) of claimed competencies. You will need to give evidence for all proficiency claims at level 4 or 5 and any proficiency claims at level 3 if you have not submitted evidence in the last 3 years. Examples of these could be logbook entries, training courses or a publication.

See the Checklist and guidance (here)

Referees

Who can be a referee and what they need to do.

Main requirement

You’ll need to find 2 referees who are occupational health nurse specialists, and at least 1 of whom works outside your organisation.

How to show this in your application

You referees must know you well enough to form a robust opinion of your professional work and status. Their reports are an important part of your application and must show strong support for it.

Download our referee report example (here)

Assessment

How your application will be assessed and how long it will take.

How your application will be assessed and how long it will take.

Two members of the Faculty’s Accreditation Board (FAB) will assess your application. They might ask you to submit additional information if there are any areas which need clarification.

In order for your application to have the best chance of success, make sure it contains enough information for the assessors to answer positively all the following questions:

  • Have you completed the necessary four years professional experience?
  • Have you demonstrated sufficient knowledge?
  • Does your logbook contain sufficient work to enable the assessment to be done?
  • Have you demonstrated an occupational health approach to your work?

During the assessment of your application, all assessors follow specific written guidance and complete a checklist to ensure they work consistently, and we maintain a clear record of your application. You should read these too before you apply to understand what the assessors are looking for, how they do their assessment, and to give yourself the best chance of success.

Ready to apply?

If you think you’re ready to apply, this is what you’ll need to do.

  1. Complete the Professional Competency Checklist. Download the checklist (here)
  2. Create your logbook entries. Download the logbook template (here) and example (here)
  3. Gather the evidence to back up your logbook entries, competency checklist and NMC Revalidation CPD and practice hours.
  4. Fill in an application form. Specialist Practitioner application form (here)
  5. Email the application form to us at membership@fohn.org.uk , together with the Checklist, logbook and evidence.
  6. Contact your referee and ask them to prepare and send us their referee reports. Download the report template and example (template – example) to send to them.
  7. Pay the £15 membership via the online system plus the £60 application fee when you receive our invoice (here)